But Dickinson tells the Daily Star: “Personally I have no interest in going to Glastonbury. In the days when Glasto was an alternative festival it was quite interesting. Now it’s the most bourgeois thing on the planet.

“Anywhere Gwyneth Paltrow goes and you can live in an air-conditioned yurt is not for me.”

He claims the BBC send “thousands” of people to cover that festival and adds: “They can’t be arsed to turn up to Sonisphere or Download with a camper van and a hand-held.”

The vocalist continues: “We’ll leave the middle classes to do Glastonbury – and the great unwashed will decamp to Knebworth, drink a lot of beer and have fun.”